| |  |  | The Reuters Daily Briefing | Wednesday, March 30, 2022 by Linda Noakes | Hello Here's what you need to know. Germany braces for gas rationing, Russians abroad find their money is toxic, and what is a U.S. yield curve inversion telling us? | | | | | Today's biggest stories  A boy sits in front of a residential building damaged by shelling in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine, March 30, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko RUSSIA AND UKRAINE AT WAR Ukraine and its Western allies dismissed a Russian military pullback from near Kyiv as a ploy to refit troops after heavy losses, even as invading forces bombard cities elsewhere and press on with the obliteration of besieged Mariupol.
Nearly five weeks into an invasion in which it has failed to capture any major cities, Russia said it would curtail operations near Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv "to increase mutual trust" for peace talks.
The Kremlin welcomed the fact that Kyiv has set out its demands for an end to the conflict in written form, but said there was no sign of a breakthrough yet.
More than a month since Russia's invasion, the defence of Ukraine's capital Kyiv has played out in heavy clashes in places like Lukyanivka and the nearby town of Brovary to the east, Irpin and Bucha to the northwest and Makariv to the west. When the histories are written such towns and villages may be minor details, but they are where the Russian advance has been halted.
A growing number of Russians living abroad are finding issues accessing their money. We look at how Western sanctions meant to punish President Vladimir Putin's inner circle are also broadly ensnaring Russian passport holders.
Here's what you need to know about the conflict right now
|  A man standing on a scooter scans a QR code to buy food from a vendor behind barricades of a sealed-off area in Shanghai, China, March 30, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song
WORLD
Authorities began locking down some western areas of Shanghai two days ahead of schedule, as new COVID-19 cases in China's most populous city jumped by a third despite stringent measures already in place to try to stop the virus spreading. Frustrated residents have taken to social media to vent, questioning the practicality of persisting with China's zero-tolerance approach. Coronavirus infections in Asia have passed 100 million, according to a Reuters tally.
Israeli security forces were on high alert after a Palestinian gunman killed five people in a Tel Aviv suburb, the latest in a string of fatal attacks that has stoked fears of wider escalation ahead of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
The United Nations welcomed moves by Yemen's warring sides to temporarily halt military operations and urged them to engage "without preconditions" with U.N.-led peace efforts as Saudi Arabia hosted allied Yemeni factions for talks.
A main ally of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's government has reached a pact with opposition parties seeking to oust him, a party official said, signaling Khan may be running out of options as he tries to stay in power. Former cricket star Khan is battling a series of defections from his ruling alliance and an increasingly united opposition trying to force him from office.
The number of people crossing the Darien Gap, one of the most dangerous and impassable regions of Latin America, has almost tripled compared to the same period last year, the United Nations Refugee Agency said. The lawless stretch of mountainous jungle between Colombia and Panama is one of the main routes taken by migrants and refugees trying to head north to the United States.
U.S.
The top two U.S. Justice Department officials in the waning days of Donald Trump's presidency are cooperating with a Washington legal body's ethics probe of their former colleague Jeffrey Bossert Clark, who tried to help Trump overturn his 2020 election loss, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas should recuse himself from any cases about the attack on the Capitol by Trump's followers. Schumer became the most high-ranking Democrat to make that request of the conservative justice after the Washington Post and CBS News reported on text messages showing that Thomas's wife Virginia Thomas urged Mark Meadows, Trump's then-chief of staff, to work to overturn Biden's election win.
Health officials authorized a second COVID-19 booster dose of the two most commonly used COVID-19 vaccines for people age 50 and older, citing data showing waning immunity and the risks posed by Omicron variants of the virus.
President Joe Biden signed into law the first federal legislation to make lynching a hate crime, addressing a history of racist killings in the United States, after the Senate passed the bill earlier this month.
Kentucky lawmakers passed a bill that would ban abortion after 15 weeks and contains several provisions that abortion rights advocates say could severely restrict or essentially end access to the procedure in the state.
| | | | | | | | | | | Quote of the day "It's been mystifying. I think that the bond market is sober and the equity market is quixotic." Jack Ablin Chief investment officer at Cresset Capital Management U.S. stock rally defies economic unease | | | | Video of the day  Britain detains Russian Oligarch's superyacht The $50 million vessel was detained hours before it was due to leave London | | | Thanks for spending part of your day with us. | | | | | |
